Heavy Pixelation in AVIs.

Ever since the last QT update 7.6, my AVIs are so pixelated to the point where it's no use for me to edit them in FCP. They're more like thick white blocks that completely distort the image. I have both Perian and Flip4Mac up to date. I'm also using MPEG Streamclip to convert to a more friendly h.264 clip. I've seen this mentioned in other Mac forums but none here in greater detail. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

... I've seen this mentioned in other Mac forums but none here in greater detail. ...

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You also post different different information on those forums. If you expect help, then the people trying to help you need accurate information that is reasonably complete. For example, it might be useful to give the model of your computer and the version of your OS.

Another thing that you need to understand is that .avi is not a video format. It is a container format. The actual audio and video tracks may have been created using any number of codecs. Many, but not all, .avi files use "generic MPEG-4" for video and MP3 for audio. MPEG-4 is a delivery format that must be transcoded into an editable format.

This may be at the heart of your problem. Without concrete information from you, speculation is as good as it gets.

Just because I saw information on other forums doesn't mean I posted on those forums. This is the only mac forum I belong to.

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For example, it might be useful to give the model of your computer and the version of your OS.

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That's what my signature is for.

I know that .avi is a container format and you're right in that most .avi files use "generic MPEG-4" for video and MP3 for audio which is what most of my clips are. The best I can do is show you what I mean in a the video I put together here -> vimeo clip. I do appreciate your help but 'get info' in finder or QT itself doesn't give me what I need to see in order to supply more information on each particular clip.

It appears that the source files for your pixelated clips were in a highly compressed delivery format(s). Using files like this for anything other than viewing is problematic under the best of circumstances. Your problems are exacerbated by your choice of content in your clips. Did you notice how badly the low-light clips pixelated? My suggestion to you is to chose well-lighted pastoral scenes. Avoid clips with fast action. If all of your source files are in this format, then you should get with John Tesh and avoid David Lee Roth. Use scenes of wind-swept wheat fields and horses grazing in a meadow.

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